1.
United States Capitol
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The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol Building or Capitol Hill, is the home of the United States Congress, and the seat of the legislative branch of the U. S. federal government. It sits atop Capitol Hill at the end of the National Mall in Washington. Though not at the center of the Federal District, the Capitol forms the origin point for the Districts street-numbering system. The original building was completed in 1800 and was subsequently expanded, like the principal buildings of the executive and judicial branches, the Capitol is built in a distinctive neoclassical style and has a white exterior. Both its east and west elevations are referred to as fronts, though only the east front was intended for the reception of visitors. In 2014, scaffolding was erected around the dome for a project scheduled to be completed by early 2017. All exterior scaffolding was removed by the end of summer 2016, prior to establishing the nations capital in Washington, D. C. the United States Congress and its predecessors had met in Philadelphia, New York City, and a number of other locations. In September 1774, the First Continental Congress brought together delegates from the colonies in Philadelphia, followed by the Second Continental Congress, Congress requested that John Dickinson, the Governor of Pennsylvania, call up the militia to defend Congress from attacks by the protesters. In what became known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, Dickinson sympathized with the protesters and refused to remove them from Philadelphia. As a result, Congress was forced to flee to Princeton, New Jersey, on June 21,1783, and met in Annapolis, Maryland, the United States Congress was established upon ratification of the United States Constitution and formally began on March 4,1789. New York City remained home to Congress until July 1790, when the Residence Act was passed to pave the way for a permanent capital. As part of the legislation, Philadelphia was chosen as a capital for ten years, until the nations capital in Washington. Pierre Charles LEnfant was given the task of creating the city plan for the new capital city, in reviewing LEnfants plan, Thomas Jefferson insisted the legislative building be called the Capitol rather than Congress House. The word Capitol comes from Latin and is associated with the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Capitoline Hill, the connection between the two is not, however, crystal clear. In spring 1792, United States Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson proposed a competition to solicit designs for the Capitol and the Presidents House. The prize for the competition was $500 and a lot in the Federal City, the most promising of the submissions was by Stephen Hallet, a trained French architect. However, Hallets designs were overly fancy, with too much French influence, a late entry by amateur architect William Thornton was submitted on January 31,1793, to much praise for its Grandeur, Simplicity, and Beauty by Washington, along with praise from Thomas Jefferson. Thornton was inspired by the east front of the Louvre, as well as the Paris Pantheon for the portion of the design
2.
Washington, D.C.
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Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D. C. is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16,1790, Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia, in 1871. Washington had an population of 681,170 as of July 2016. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups. A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973, However, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, the District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century, One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. 43, published January 23,1788, James Madison argued that the new government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance. Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital, on July 9,1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, many of the stones are still standing
3.
Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, in doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy. Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln grew up on the frontier in Kentucky. Largely self-educated, he became a lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1846, Lincoln promoted rapid modernization of the economy through banks, tariffs, and railroads. Reentering politics in 1854, he became a leader in building the new Republican Party, in 1860, Lincoln secured the Republican Party presidential nomination as a moderate from a swing state. Though he gained little support in the slaveholding states of the South. Subsequently, on April 12,1861, a Confederate attack on Fort Sumter inspired the North to enthusiastically rally behind the Union. Politically, Lincoln fought back by pitting his opponents against each other, by carefully planned political patronage and his Gettysburg Address became an iconic endorsement of the principles of nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. Lincoln initially concentrated on the military and political dimensions of the war and his primary goal was to reunite the nation. He suspended habeas corpus, leading to the ex parte Merryman decision. Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including his most successful general, Lincoln tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another, until finally Grant succeeded. As the war progressed, his moves toward ending slavery included the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. On April 14,1865, five days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton launched a manhunt for Booth, and 12 days later on April 26, Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as among the greatest U. S. presidents. Abraham Lincoln was born February 12,1809, the child of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville. He was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk to its namesake of Hingham, samuels grandson and great-grandson began the familys western migration, which passed through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Lincolns paternal grandfather and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln, moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County, Captain Lincoln was killed in an Indian raid in 1786. His children, including eight-year-old Thomas, the presidents father
4.
Chief Justice of the United States
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The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices, the eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. From 1789 until 1866, the office was known as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice also serves as a spokesperson for the judicial branch. The Chief Justice leads the business of the Supreme Court and presides over oral arguments, when the court renders an opinion, the Chief Justice—when in the majority—decides who writes the courts opinion. The Chief Justice also has significant agenda-setting power over the courts meetings, in the case of an impeachment of a President of the United States, which has occurred twice, the Chief Justice presides over the trial in the Senate. In modern tradition, the Chief Justice also has the duty of administering the oath of office of the President of the United States. The first Chief Justice was John Jay, the 17th and current Chief Justice is John G. Roberts, Jr. The office was known as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and is still informally referred to using that title. However,28 U. S. C. §1 specifies that the title is Chief Justice of the United States, the title was changed from Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by Congress in 1866 at the suggestion of the sixth Chief Justice, Salmon P. Chase. Chase wished to emphasize the Supreme Courts role as a branch of government. The first Chief Justice commissioned using the new title was Melville Fuller in 1888, use of the previous title when referring to Chief Justices John Jay through Roger B. Taney is technically correct, as that was the title during their time on the court. The other eight members of the court are officially Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Chief Justice is the only member of the court to whom the Constitution refers as a Justice, and only in Article I. Article III of the Constitution refers to all members of the Supreme Court simply as Judges, the Chief Justice is nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed to sit on the Court by the United States Senate. The salary of the Chief Justice is set by Congress, the Constitution prohibits Congress from lowering the salary of any judge, including the Chief Justice, while that judge holds office. As of 2015, the salary is $258,100 per year, which is higher than that of the Associate Justices. Three serving Associate Justices have received promotions to Chief Justice, Edward Douglass White in 1910, Harlan Fiske Stone in 1941, Associate Justice Abe Fortas was nominated to the position of Chief Justice of the United States, but his nomination was filibustered by Senate Republicans in 1968. Despite the failed nomination, Fortas remained an Associate Justice until his resignation the following year, there have been 21 individuals nominated for Chief Justice, of whom 17 have been confirmed by the Senate, although a different 17 have served
5.
Roger B. Taney
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Roger Brooke Taney was the fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864. He delivered the majority opinion in Dred Scott v. S and he was the first Roman Catholic appointed both to a presidential cabinet, as Attorney General under President Andrew Jackson, as well as to the Court. Taney, a Jacksonian Democrat, was made Chief Justice by Jackson, Taney was a believer in states rights. He inherited slaves from his father but manumitted them and gave pensions to the older ones and he believed that power and liberty were extremely important and if power became too concentrated, then it posed a grave threat to individual liberty. He opposed attempts by the government to regulate or control matters that would restrict the rights of individuals. From Prince Frederick, Maryland, he had practiced law and politics simultaneously, after abandoning the Federalist Party as a losing cause, he rose to the top of the states Jacksonian machine. He was bought and sold and treated as an article of merchandise and traffic. The court also declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, thus permitting slavery in all of the countrys territories, Taney died during the final months of the American Civil War on the same day that his home state of Maryland abolished slavery. Roger Brooke Taney was born on March 17,1777 in Calvert County, Maryland and he was the second son, and the third of seven children born to a slaveholding family of tobacco planters in Calvert County, Maryland. He received an education from a series of private tutors. After instructing him for a year, his last tutor, David English, at the age of 15 he entered Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, graduating with honors in 1795. As a younger son with no prospect of inheriting the family plantation and he read law and in 1799 was admitted to the bar. He quickly distinguished himself as one of Marylands most promising young lawyers, Taney married Anne Phoebe Charlton Key, sister of Francis Scott Key, on January 7,1806. In 1799, the year he began practicing as an attorney, Taney was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates. He ran for re-election in 1800, but lost, returning to private practice, he served as a director of the State Bank Branch in Frederick, Maryland, from 1810 to 1815. He was elected the Maryland State Senate in 1816, serving until 1821—this time as a Democratic Republican and he was also a director of the Frederick County Bank from 1818 to 1823, when he returned to private practice. When the 1824 presidential election divided the party supporters and opponents of Andrew Jackson, Taney became a staunch Jacksonian Democrat. In 1833, as secretary of the Treasury, Taney ordered an end to the deposit of Federal money in the Second Bank of the United States, an act that killed the institution
6.
Vice President of the United States
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The executive power of both the vice president and the president is granted under Article Two, Section One of the Constitution. The vice president is elected, together with the president. The Office of the Vice President of the United States assists, as the president of the United States Senate, the vice president votes only when it is necessary to break a tie. Additionally, pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment, the president presides over the joint session of Congress when it convenes to count the vote of the Electoral College. Currently, the president is usually seen as an integral part of a presidents administration. The Constitution does not expressly assign the office to any one branch, causing a dispute among scholars whether it belongs to the executive branch, the legislative branch, or both. The modern view of the president as a member of the executive branch is due in part to the assignment of executive duties to the vice president by either the president or Congress. Mike Pence of Indiana is the 48th and current vice president and he assumed office on January 20,2017. The formation of the office of vice president resulted directly from the compromise reached at the Philadelphia Convention which created the Electoral College, the delegates at Philadelphia agreed that each state would receive a number of presidential electors equal to the sum of that states allocation of Representatives and Senators. The delegates assumed that electors would typically choose to favor any candidate from their state over candidates from other states, under a plurality election process, this would tend to result in electing candidates solely from the largest states. Consequently, the delegates agreed that presidents must be elected by a majority of the number of electors. To guard against such stratagems, the Philadelphia delegates specified that the first runner-up presidential candidate would become vice president, the process for selecting the vice president was later modified in the Twelfth Amendment. Each elector still receives two votes, but now one of those votes is for president, while the other is for vice president. The requirement that one of those votes be cast for a candidate not from the electors own state remains in effect. S, other statutorily granted roles include membership of both the National Security Council and the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. As President of the Senate, the president has two primary duties, to cast a vote in the event of a Senate deadlock and to preside over. For example, in the first half of 2001, the Senators were divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats and Dick Cheneys tie-breaking vote gave the Republicans the Senate majority, as President of the Senate, the vice president oversees procedural matters and may cast a tie-breaking vote. As President of the Senate, John Adams cast 29 tie-breaking votes that was surpassed by John C. Calhoun with 31. Adamss votes protected the presidents sole authority over the removal of appointees, influenced the location of the national capital, on at least one occasion Adams persuaded senators to vote against legislation he opposed, and he frequently addressed the Senate on procedural and policy matters
7.
Hannibal Hamlin
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Hannibal Hamlin was an American attorney and politician from the state of Maine. In a public career that spanned over 50 years, he is most notable for having served as the 15th Vice President of the United States. The first Republican to hold the office, Hamlin served from 1861 to 1865, a native of Paris, Maine, Hamlin was a descendant of an English family that had originally settled in New England in the 1600s. After his early education was complete, Hamlin managed his fathers farm before becoming a newspaper editor and he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1833, and began to practice in Hampden, Maine. Originally a Democrat, Hamlin began his career with election to the Maine House of Representatives in 1835. As an officer in the militia, he took part in the 1839 negotiations that helped end the Aroostook War, in the 1840s Hamlin was elected and served in the United States House of Representatives. In 1848 the state elected him to the United States Senate. He served temporarily as governor for six weeks in the beginning of 1857, Hamlin was an active opponent of slavery, he supported the Wilmot Proviso and opposed the Compromise Measures of 1850. In 1854, he strongly opposed passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act, Hamlins increasingly anti-slavery views caused him to leave the Democratic Party for the newly formed Republican Party in 1856. The Lincoln and Hamlin ticket was successful, and Hamlin served as Vice President from 1861 to 1865, for the 1864 election, Hamlin was replaced as Vice Presidential nominee by Andrew Johnson, a southern Democrat chosen for his appeal to pro-Union southerners. The Republicans considered their support to be necessary during the reconciliation, Hamlin resigned as Collector because of disagreement with Johnson over Reconstruction of the former Confederacy. In 1869, Hamlin was elected again to the U. S. Senate, after leaving the Senate in 1881, he served briefly as United States Ambassador to Spain before returning to Maine in late 1882. In retirement, Hamlin was a resident of Bangor, Maine and he was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor. Hamlin was born to Cyrus Hamlin and his wife Anna, née Livermore and he was a descendant in the sixth generation of English colonist James Hamlin, who had settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1639. He was a grandnephew of U. S, senator Samuel Livermore II of New Hampshire. Hamlin attended the schools and Hebron Academy and later managed his fathers farm. From 1827 to 1830 he published the Oxford Jeffersonian newspaper in partnership with Horatio King and he studied law with the firm headed by Samuel Fessenden, was admitted to the bar in 1833, and began practicing in Hampden, Maine, where he lived until 1848. Hamlin married Sarah Jane Emery of Paris Hill in 1833 and her father was Stephen Emery, who was appointed as Maines Attorney General in 1839–1840
8.
John C. Breckinridge
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John Cabell Breckinridge was a lawyer, politician, and soldier from the U. S. state of Kentucky. He represented the state in both houses of Congress and became the 14th and youngest-ever Vice President of the United States and he served in the U. S. Senate during the outbreak of the American Civil War, but was expelled after joining the Confederate Army. He remains the only Senator of the United States convicted of treason against the United States of America by the Senate and he was appointed Confederate Secretary of War late in the war. Elected to the U. S. House of Representatives in 1851, after reapportionment in 1854 made his re-election unlikely, he declined to run for another term. The Democrats won the election, but Breckinridge had little influence with Buchanan and, as presiding officer of the Senate, in 1859, he was elected to succeed U. S. Senator John J. Crittenden at the end of Crittendens term in 1861, as vice president, Breckinridge joined with Buchanan in supporting the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution for Kansas, which led to a split in the Democratic Party. The Southern wing was led by Breckinridge, doughfaced Northerner Buchanan, and the northern wing, a third party, the Constitutional Union Party, nominated John Bell. Taking his seat in the Senate, he urged compromise to preserve the Union although seven states had already seceded, Unionists took control of the state legislature when Kentuckys neutrality was breached. After this occurred, Breckinridge fled behind Confederate battle lines where he was commissioned a brigadier general, following the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, he was promoted to major general, and in October he was assigned to the Army of Mississippi under General Braxton Bragg. After participating in Jubal Earlys 1864 campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley, Breckinridge was charged with defending Confederate supplies in Tennessee, in February 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed him Secretary of War. Concluding that the war was hopeless, he urged Davis to arrange a national surrender, after the fall of the Confederate capital at Richmond, he ensured the preservation of Confederate military and governmental records. He traveled south from Richmond and managed to capture by Federal forces. He then fled to Cuba, Great Britain, and finally, in exile, he toured Europe from August 1866 to June 1868. When President Andrew Johnson extended amnesty to all former Confederates in late 1868, he returned to Kentucky, War injuries sapped his health, and after two operations, he died on May 17,1875. John Cabell Breckinridge was born at Thorn Hill, his familys estate near Lexington, Kentucky, the fourth of six children born to Joseph Cabell and Mary Clay Breckinridge, he was their only son. His mother was the daughter of Samuel Stanhope Smith, who founded Hampden–Sydney College in 1775, and granddaughter of John Witherspoon, having previously served as Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives, his father had been appointed Kentuckys Secretary of State just prior to his sons birth. In February, the family moved with Governor John Adair to the Governors Mansion in Frankfort, in August 1823, an illness referred to as the prevailing fever struck Frankfort, and Cabell Breckinridge took his children to stay with his mother in Lexington. On his return, both he and his wife fell ill, he died, but she survived and his assets were not enough to pay his debts, and his wife joined the children in Lexington, supported by her mother-in-law
9.
President of the United States
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The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is considered to be one of the worlds most powerful political figures, the role includes being the commander-in-chief of the worlds most expensive military with the second largest nuclear arsenal and leading the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP. The office of President holds significant hard and soft power both in the United States and abroad, Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The president is empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves. The president is responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of the party to which the president is a member. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the United States, since the office of President was established in 1789, its power has grown substantially, as has the power of the federal government as a whole. However, nine vice presidents have assumed the presidency without having elected to the office. The Twenty-second Amendment prohibits anyone from being elected president for a third term, in all,44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four-year terms. On January 20,2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th, in 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, acting through the Second Continental Congress, declared political independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. The new states, though independent of each other as nation states, desiring to avoid anything that remotely resembled a monarchy, Congress negotiated the Articles of Confederation to establish a weak alliance between the states. Out from under any monarchy, the states assigned some formerly royal prerogatives to Congress, only after all the states agreed to a resolution settling competing western land claims did the Articles take effect on March 1,1781, when Maryland became the final state to ratify them. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies, with peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. Prospects for the convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washingtons attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia. It was through the negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U. S. The first power the Constitution confers upon the president is the veto, the Presentment Clause requires any bill passed by Congress to be presented to the president before it can become law. Once the legislation has been presented, the president has three options, Sign the legislation, the bill becomes law. Veto the legislation and return it to Congress, expressing any objections, in this instance, the president neither signs nor vetoes the legislation
10.
United States presidential inauguration
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The inauguration of the President of the United States is a ceremony to mark the commencement of a new four-year term of a president of the United States. This ceremony takes place for new presidential term, even if the president is continuing in office for a second term. Since 1937, it has taken place on January 20, which is 72 to 78 days after the November presidential election, the term of a president commences at noon on that day, when the Chief Justice administers the oath to the president. However, when January 20 falls on a Sunday, the Chief Justice administers the oath to the president on that day privately and then again in a ceremony the next day, on Monday. The most recent presidential inauguration ceremony was the swearing in of Donald Trump to a term of office on Friday. However, over the years, various traditions have arisen that have expanded the inauguration from a simple oath-taking ceremony to an event, including parades. Since the 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan, the ceremony has held at the west front of the United States Capitol. Other swearing-in ceremonies have taken place at the Capitols east portico, inside the Old Senate Chamber, the House chamber, additionally, on two occasions—in 1817 and 1945—they were held at other locations in Washington, D. C. Although the Constitution does not mandate that anyone in particular should administer the oath of office. Since 1789, the oath has been administered at 58 scheduled public inaugurations, by 15 chief justices, one associate justice, when a new president assumed office under these circumstances the inauguration is kept low key, and conducted without pomp or fanfare. The first inauguration, that of George Washington, took place on April 30,1789, all subsequent inaugurations from 1793 until 1933, were held on March 4, the day of the year on which the federal government began operations under the U. S. The exception to this pattern being those years in when March 4 fell on a Sunday, when it did, the public inauguration ceremony would take place on Monday, March 5. This happened on four occasions, in,1821,1849,1877, Inauguration Day moved to January 20, beginning in 1937, following ratification of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution, where it has remained since. A similar Sunday exception and move to Monday is made around this date as well, there is no in-lieu-of holiday for employees or students who are not regularly scheduled to work or attend school on Inauguration Day. Most presidential inaugurations since 1801 have been held in Washington D. C. at the Capitol Building, prior inaugurations were held, first at Federal Hall in New York City, and then at Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Each city was, at the time, the nations capital, the location for James Monroes 1817 swearing in was moved to the Old Brick Capitol in Washington due to on-going restoration work at the Capitol building following the War of 1812. Three other inaugurations—Franklin D. Roosevelts fourth, Harry S. Trumans first, Presidential inaugurations have traditionally been outdoor public ceremonies. Andrew Jackson, in 1829, was the first of 35 held on the east front of the Capitol
